Repairs due for leaking roof at Woodstown's Mary S. Shoemaker School

WOODSTOWN — The Woodstown-Pilesgrove Regional School District Board of Education is planning to repair the roof at the Mary S. Shoemaker School.

According to Superintendent Thomas Coleman, the roof leaks, creating an unsuitable learning environment for the students.

“We feel an obligation to preserve and improve upon it rather than allow it to fall into decay. This is something that has not been done by the board in its recent history,” Coleman said. “As they reach completion, we will evaluate the other needs of our facilities and address them.”

The opportunity to repair the Mary S. Shoemaker roof presented itself and was made possible because of the cooperation and bargaining units through general negotiations during the last school year.

“We were able to accomplish favorable savings and want to see those savings go back to maintaining our facilities. This is a proactive approach that we are taking to address our aging facilities,” Coleman said, adding the board is committing to a three-year plan and looking forward to furthering the vision.

According to Business Administrator Frank Rizzo, in addition to Mary S. Shoemaker, the Woodstown High School and Middle School roofs need repairs.

“We are not doing all the roofs because that would be a big undertaking,” Rizzo said. “Next year, we are going to do a section of the high school roof.”

Rizzo said the board is looking at the buildings to try and hit the areas that are needed the most.

According to Rizzo, the estimate for the repair to the roof at Mary Shoemaker School is roughly between $340,000 and $380,000, and the board is currently working with the architect.

The budget this year for major facility repairs was $425,000.

“It is the district’s goal to earmark amounts for the following two years, but the amount will be contingent on budget conditions at those points in time,” Coleman said.

The plan is to put aside $350,000 the second year and $250,000 the third year in order to tackle major facility repairs, Rizzo said.

According to Coleman, the boilers in Mary S. Shoemaker School were recently replaced and the school now has more energy-efficient units.

At Woodstown High School, the old chimney was also recently replaced after causing problems for the past nine years, Coleman said.

“The chimney was taken out of operation and a new more suitable chimney was installed,” he said.

According to Coleman, the board is in the beginning stages of planning and the roof repairs at Mary S. Shoemaker School will begin later this year.